


De Miei Bollenti Spirito

by Kummerspeck7



Series: Fixing the Finale [2]
Category: Royal Pains
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Porn, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Fix-It, Happy Ending, M/M, Porn with Feelings, Series Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:55:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25973989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kummerspeck7/pseuds/Kummerspeck7
Summary: "I would like to tell you about my marriage." Boris paused for a moment as if he were unsure of how to proceed. "I hope it will convince you to come with me.""Okay." Hank answered reluctantly. He suspected listening to Boris talk about how much he loved Marisa would do the opposite, but it wasn't like he could turn the man away. He never could.The events of the night before the infamous beach scene in the series finale. Canon compliant.
Relationships: Boris Kuester von Jurgens-Ratenicz/Hank Lawson
Series: Fixing the Finale [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1783354
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	De Miei Bollenti Spirito

It was an inky black night filled with the endless cacophony of cicadas and crickets. The heat wasn't as oppressive near the end of summer but the darkness felt unusually heavy, like a blanket he couldn't seem to take off. Hank felt stifled in his own skin as he listened to the sounds of Boris dressing for bed across the hall. It could be the last time he ever heard those sounds: the soft padding of Boris' feet against a hardwood floor, how the man hummed while he brushed his teeth, how Boris always spent just a moment outside his door then quietly bade him a second 'goodnight'. 

When was the last time he heard those words? He hadn't stayed with Boris in Hong Kong. Maybe when they had been looking after Rinpoche at the hospital? That was a year ago. He hadn't known then it might be the last time he ever heard those words. He hadn't savored them enough. Hank stared at the ceiling and wondered how his life had turned out like it had. He wondered what he should do next-- Except that it wasn't really a choice, was it? If he went he would be spending years or maybe even the rest of his life in hiding with the man he was desperately in love with… And the man's wife. His family. It sounded like the sweetest agony: a lifetime of perfect adventures with Boris all while knowing the man could never really be his. Watching him hold Marisa, kiss her, call her his dearest and his heart. Watching them grow old together with him always the third wheel. 

He couldn't.

He wanted to.

It would destroy him. He'd slip up and then everyone would know how pathetically in love he was with a very married man with a child and he'd lose his best friend anyway and he'd have to live with the guilt of what he'd done for the rest of his life. He couldn't. He needed to let the man go.

Hank listened as Boris returned to Evan's old room and turned off the lights without stopping by his door. His chest tightened uncomfortably. Boris changed his routine and as a result Hank would never hear those husky words again. The man was leaving in the morning. He wasn't coming back. HankMed was dissolving out from under him like sand at the beach and Boris was leaving and it felt like April of 2009 all over again but somehow worse. 

He laid there surrounded by the endless black night, wondering if it was possible to be smothered by darkness. Then he heard footsteps in the hall again and there was someone standing in front of his door. Before he could think to say anything the knob rattled slightly as it was turned and opened in the dark.

"Boris?" He whispered into the impenetrable darkness.

"Ah, good. You're awake." The nobleman responded. He sounded confident but there was just something about his tone that sounded off; maybe it was more bravado than confidence. "Hank, I would like to tell you tell you something before you make up your mind--Unless it has already been decided?"

"It hasn't." Hank replied cautiously.

"May I sit?" Boris requested politely.

Hank sat up in bed, not quite sure what was going on. "Sure, let me grab the light."

"Don't." The nobleman instructed. "I will explain later if it becomes relevant."

"Okay." Hank agreed easily. 

Boris settled with an uneasy grace barely a foot away from him, perched on the edge of the bed almost like he was avoiding physical contact for the first time in their friendship. Hank could see the man's silver hair, the edges of his light colored pajamas, and roughly where the features were on his face--but not much else. It was good it was dark, he decided. It was hard enough pretending Boris didn't affect him from across the room. In the same bed was asking for trouble. 

"I would like to tell you about my marriage." Boris paused for a moment as if he were unsure of how to proceed. "I hope it will convince you to come with me."

"Okay." Hank answered reluctantly. He suspected listening to Boris talk about how much he loved Marisa would do the opposite, but it wasn't like he could turn the man away. He never could.

"Marisa and I began our relationship more than ten years ago. For the first few months it was beyond my wildest dreams. We became very serious very quickly and only had one argument."

"Children." Hank supplemented.

"Yes. We fought for months and ultimately I left. I could not take the experience of being a mother away from her and she could not change my mind. She wrote to me for years after." He paused again. "When we reunited she said she saw things differently at nearly forty than she had in her early thirties. I was with her in Cuba for only seven weeks and she returned to me at Shadow Pond five weeks pregnant. I could not believe she had coincidentally happened to conceive in the first few weeks we had been reunited."

"Boris… Are you implying you think Marisa got pregnant intentionally?" Hank clarified.

"I do not know with certainty. I have long suspected the pregnancy was only unplanned by one of us, but even if she did not intend for it to happen-- As a doctor she should have known better than to take Rifampin. Why use the only antibiotic actually known to stop hormonal birth control from working? What I know is that she was on a ten-day cycle of what she said was 'an antibiotic'-- the antibiotic I later found out was Rifampin-- when two separate condoms broke."

"It could be a coincidence--Rifampin is sometimes used prophylactically in the case of MRSA exposure."

"That is a possibility. The more pressing issue is one of trust. That I suspect her at all points to larger issues, wouldn't you say?" Boris waited for him to nod. "The first month of her residency with me at Shadow Pond was agony. She would not tell me what her affliction was and when she finally elected to communicate after a month... I spent the next several weeks begging her to have mercy on our unborn child and terminate the pregnancy. She refused to listen to the horrific future in store for our child and I refused to listen to her hope that a cure would be found in time to save them."

"That's when she moved out." Hank recalled. 

"She did. She went to Manhattan to work in a laboratory while I tried to understand what had happened to my more or less peaceful, orderly life in one summer. I brought her back to Shadow Pond for a meeting near the end of her pregnancy and when she questioned me it was almost as if I could pretend nothing had changed-- Until I looked down at the swell of her stomach and was reminded of the consequences of my carelessness. I had already failed our child so much just by letting them be conceived, I failed Marisa by not participating as a good partner would, I failed myself and everything I swore I would do to end my family's curse." 

"You were a mess," Hank acknowledged, putting a hand on Boris' shoulder comfortingly. "But anyone would have been in that position. I was so blinded by my own desire for a family then I couldn't see your big picture like you did. It wasn't until after Milos that I realized why you were so determined."

"When Carlos was born-- I will never forget the first moment I saw him."

"Instant love?" He guessed.

"It was the worst moment of my life, Hank. I was looking at this sinless, guileless, weak creature that I had condemned to death with my blood. I, his father. The one most supposed to protect him." 

"Boris, you're not being fair to yourself." He insisted. "Your disease isn't your fault and now there's treatments for it."

"That was how I felt then and it is still how I feel when he's subjected to near constant testing." Boris protested hotly. "He's been through more bone scans and muscle biopsies and blood draws at five than most adults will experience in their entire lifetimes and it's only going to get worse. Right now he doesn't understand that most children do not see twelve different specialists scattered across the globe. But someday he will, and some day a part of him will hate me for what I have inflicted on him. How could he not?"

"He's not going to live your experience." Hank replied softly, lightly touching his friend's back. "You're not going to die. There's a treatment and it works. The worst case scenario here is that he's going to be moderately inconvenienced."

He could barely see Boris beside him, but from what he could see it looked like the man was frowning. "I hope you are right. When he stopped breathing shortly after birth I would have done anything to protect him. His hand was so small in mine."

"I don't understand. I thought you wanted to tell me about your marriage?"

"Yes, I am trying to explain how we came to be at this point." Boris answered, sounding mildly irritated that the perfect words weren't melding themselves to his desire like he fully expected them to. "Perhaps it would be better told another way?"

"What do you mean?" He gently probed.

"From the first second I laid eyes on you, you have interested me. I have trusted you with my life and you have never let me down. When I reunited with Marisa, I hoped you were-- Strohfeuer-- Ah, a fleeting interest? A crush? I assumed I could simply 'get over' you with enough time." For a second it looked like Boris was going to put a hand on his shoulder, but the man stopped himself. "When Marisa informed me she was pregnant and you had known for weeks I felt deeply betrayed. Then when you met me in New York I expected for you to somehow guess my suspicions."

"That the pregnancy wasn't an accident? That's why you were so upset." Hank recalled. "You thought I was taking her side instead of trying to help you accept it."

"I realize now it was irrational to expect you to read my mind. You had done such an impressive job of it in the few months I had known you, I was certain you would again-- But you don't see the worst in people as I do. Your realistic optimism is one of my favorite things about you and I was setting you up for failure with my expectations. For that I am sorry."

"Boris, you have nothing to apologize for. Especially after five years." Hank assured him.

"I watched Divya assist the in delivery of my child and wished that you were there-- Not as a doctor, not helping my child into the world-- I wanted you there beside me to experience the momentous event together. That was the moment I realized you were much more than a passing affection. I had to make a choice; I had to pick someone to walk away from. It was long past the time to commit myself wholly to one person instead of being half-hearted with you both. When I held Carlos for the first time everything in my world came into focus. I made the decision to be happy with Marisa and our child; I was determined to keep my distance from you in order to remain faithful to her in my heart." 

"I don't understand. After Carlos was born you sent them away."

"Yes. Not long had passed after his birth when the muscle weakness started. I felt… Adrift. I was grateful each day that Marisa did not notice any of the symptoms but at the same time I did not know where to turn since I had decided to keep my distance from you-- and then in less than a minute during a chance encounter at the doorway of the guesthouse you correctly diagnosed what I suspected to be happening. I felt both relieved you had noticed and immense guilt that I trusted you with my life but not the mother of my child. And then you saved my life." He took a deep breath in. "The fight we had when she realized I'd been hiding my condition from her--She demanded to know why I entrusted you with my life but had not so much as hinted at something being wrong to her. It was a difficult conversation. We were married shortly thereafter, but things irrevocably changed between us after that fight. Marisa began consulting and traveled often. As for myself, I changed my mind about staying away. I concocted an excuse for you to meet Dima in Manhattan. I drew out the plan at Shadow Pond."

"We got in that fight." Hank recalled.

"We did. I don't like the person I was that afternoon, Hank. I said things that were cruel and false because of how I felt-- You were right. I was jealous… But not of Christina."

What was the nobleman even saying? It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense because it sounded like Boris was confessing that he'd had feelings for him for the last six years and that couldn't be what was happening. He had to be misunderstanding, didn't he?

"I don't understand." 

"I reminded myself over and over that I was married-- That I was a newlywed. I should have only had eyes for Marisa but I still found myself making every excuse to orbit around you, coaxing you into my life every second I was able." Boris pinched the bridge of his nose lightly. "When Dmitry became ill and you joined me for his rescue I thought I would be too worried about him to fixate on you. I was wrong. You took such wonderful care of him and then Amir-- I watched you sleep that night. I sat there all those long, dark hours and memorized the lines of your face. I came so unforgivably close to saying something, to finally doing something. I vividly imagined how I would lie you down on that couch beside me and finally whisper all the things I had left unspoken. When the sun rose the next morning I was torn. I knew I could not let you walk away from me, from us. But I also knew it was wrong of me to want you so much."

"How can you say you cared about me when you made me think I'd lost you two months after Jack died?" Hank accused. "You faked your death without telling me. I grieved."

"I deeply regret my actions that summer. I regret hurting you. I regret putting you in harm's way, I regret that you were injured, I regret not telling you everything and involving you from the start." Boris let out a deep breath. "Dmitry knew… How I felt. He could not understand why I didn't simply bed you first and ask questions later. He wanted me to tell you, but instead I had the… Misguided notion I was protecting you. Our situation could only be simple as long as you did not know my feelings. I went into hiding alone."

"Dmitry knew?" He echoed.

"He did. Every time you yelled at him, every time you confronted him, every time you glared at him distrustfully-- He said he wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or tell you. Then you did something neither of us expected."

"I contacted Milos."

Boris nodded. "You did. When I first heard what you had done there was a moment where I was concerned that you did not understand the danger you were in. Then I realized-- with your intelligence, you knew exactly how much danger you were in. That is when it finally became clear to me I was not a passing infatuation for you, either."

Hank leaned back against the headboard, closing his eyes for a moment. "You're right." He confirmed solemnly. "I don't know if I blamed Dmitry or myself more for your death. I thought I was too late to help you but I needed to do something. Whoever killed you couldn't be allowed to get away with it so whatever the cost, whatever the risk-- I was ready to accept it."

"After you were injured because of me, after I left you to believe I was dead, after all you went through the previous summer-- you offered to risk your medical license for me the moment you realized I was still alive." Boris continued softly.

Hank scoffed. "I was willing to risk death to get you justice. There's nothing I wouldn't have done to bring you back to life." 

"Cavorting with you all those months got me through my family's betrayal and the loss of my brother while I was still in hiding. You kept me sane when I felt I was losing touch with my humanity. When we heard about the clinical trial that fall I discussed my desire to have you join us with Marisa. She was conflicted; you helped save my life in many ways she had not been able to and you are our son's godfather-- as a devout Catholic that means an incredible amount to her-- but after giving up her family and her country for me she understandably did not want to watch me romance someone else. We came to an agreement: I could invite you, but that was all. No persuasion of any sort on my part."

"I wasn't imagining she didn't seem thrilled with the idea of me joining you." He recalled.

"She was briefly relieved when you said you could not join us on our trip, but then when you left your practice, patients, and family to join us… I believe that is when she accepted things could never be as she imagined them."

"What do you mean?"

"I never wanted the situation I find myself in, Hank. I love my family--But my life feels incomplete without you in it. Marisa defected thinking the two of us and our child would be the perfect fulfillment of her dreams. She certainly never expected for me to have feelings for someone else." Boris shook his head slightly. Clearly the years weighed heavily on him. "When you declined to join me on the helicopter at the start of the next summer I was distraught. I richly deserved it, but I could not understand how to go from having you by my side for the better part of a year to being alone again. I threw myself headlong into scheming in an attempt to distract myself. I was so wrapped up in the pain of losing you and how desperately I wanted you back that I offered you as human bait and almost got you killed for the second time in a year. I thought myself irredeemable at that point. How could I put you in a position with a known human trafficker and not have a backup plan for stopping your transport should she decide to kidnap you?"

"Hey. I knew you'd come." Hank said softly, reaching out to touch his friend's arm reassuringly. "No matter how sly she was, no matter what resources she had at her disposal, no matter what she said-- I knew you were coming for me. I wasn't scared. I've always trusted you."

"I know." The man breathed. "You have seen the very best in me when I the least deserved it and so I decided it was finally time to do something for you in return. I tried once again to let go. You had Charlotte. You seemed content. In Argentina I tried to be supportive the best I was able even as the trip reminded me of our time in the Middle East and how all I wanted was to hold you in my arms and confess everything."

Hank frowned. "You keep saying you wanted to let me go. You keep saying you wanted me to be happy with someone else-- But every time I tried to move on you came back, Boris. When I was hoping I could be happy with Charlotte you moved into Shadow Pond allegedly permanently and changed everything. How could I be happy with her when you were so close? The one person I couldn't get over! I messed things up with every woman I ever dated--"

Boris cut him off. "In 2004 I walked away from Marisa. I looked back many times through her letters but I was confident that I would be fine going through the remainder of my existence without her. I have never been fine when you left, Hank. You are the only person I have ever asked to return to my life and when you looked at me wide-eyed and breathless in the doorway of Ms Newberg's home? I had no choice but to finally accept I have needed you just the same as I require air since the night we first met. I have tried many times to stop breathing for your sake, Hank. I tried after Carlos was born, I tried when I faked my death, I tried when you had Charlotte. I cannot do it. I don't want to, not anymore. Never again. Come with me on this next adventure. Stay by my side as my lover, my closest confidant, and as a member of my family. Let me make up for six years of half-measures with complete devotion for the rest of our lives."

He wanted to say yes. Boris had said almost everything he'd ever wanted to hear and he wanted to hand himself over mind, body, and soul. He couldn't, though. Boris had a family. The man had a beautiful wife. A miracle child.

"What's my place in all this? Where do I fit, and how could this work? You're going to bring me to your new place and Marisa is just going to… What? Suddenly open up your marriage so I can be with you? Am I going to destroy your family? I can't do that."

"Marisa will always have a place in my heart. I love her dearly, she is the mother of my child and her research helped save my life." Boris looked away. "Unfortunately I cannot forgive her, Hank. I've tried. I suspect she can not forgive me, either."

"For begging her to get an abortion?"

"No." Boris answered, turning back to face him. "For being in love with you our entire marriage."

The clouds shifted just enough to allow a few stray moonbeams to illuminate the room. They were staring at one another, hanging in the empty space between becoming lovers and separating for the rest of their lives. Hank looked into those cerulean eyes for the millionth time and the fight between his head and his heart finally stopped. Boris loved him. Boris had always loved him. The consequences and the fallout and repercussions could wait.

"Kiss me." He breathed, reaching for the man beside him. "I need to know if this chemistry is real, if we're real, or if I just-- Just kiss me."

"Yes." The nobleman whispered with all the reverence of a prayer, and he did.

Hank couldn't believe it was finally, actually happening. The lips against his were wonderfully soft contrasted against the rough scratch of the man's beard. He always imagined that if they kissed it would be a sweet and slow press, a gentle confession… He was wrong. Boris claimed his mouth just as surely as he conquered everything he wanted: hard and fast and insistent. Hank moaned as he gave into the man exploring every exposed inch of his exposed skin.

He'd gone to bed in his boxers like usual and he couldn't figure out if he was relieved to already be mostly naked or if he wished he was wearing more clothing just so he could experience Boris removing every piece. He didn't expect six years of quiet lust to explode like a powder keg between them, but it had and now all he could think about was making every stray fantasy he'd had about his friend come true.

Boris pulled him onto his lap, hands caressing over his back and ass. He could already feel the nobleman hard against him and the knowledge that Boris was his-- it was better than any drug could ever hope to be. Hank's fingers fumbled at the buttons on Boris' pajama shirt as he rushed to get the thing off. He knew what Boris looked like shirtless-- but not like this. Not in a dark bedroom with the man spread out under him on the bed and ready for anything. He'd waited for it. He deserved it.

Boris, as if sensing his struggle divesting him of his pajama top, pulled the shirt over his own head and dropped it carelessly beside the bed. Hank ran his palms over the soft hair on his lover's chest as he ground himself against the man. The man broke their kiss and just as he was about to object those lips descended to his ear, to his neck, to the hollow at the base of his throat. He laid back against the pillows as Boris continued to move purposefully downward.

"May I?" The man asked huskily, bright blue eyes boring into Hank's own as he touched the waistband of his lover's boxers.

"Definitely." Hank agreed. 

Boris tugged the boxers off him and took a moment to appreciate the erection the fabric had been covering. Hank knew his dick was impressive-- large without being intimidatingly huge, an aesthetically pleasing rosy beige color, and it jutted straight up without any unsightly kinks. If he were being honest with himself, It was the source of a huge amount of his confidence. 

"Oh, yes." Hank hissed as that hot mouth engulfed his cock whole. 

He clung to broad shoulders he'd imagined about a thousand times as he writhed. The soft noise Boris made sounded like a purr as the man's tongue danced around the crown of his erection before taking the entire length deep within his throat again. The man had some impressive bedroom skills of his own. Boris licked up the underside of Hank's shaft like he was greedy for it, like he was a starving man and that was the only thing keeping him alive, then plunged down once more to take it all again. Hank moaned, fingertips digging into the man's soft skin. Part of him wondered if his grip would leave marks--something tangible in the morning's light. Most of him couldn't think of anything but the mouth working his length.

"Turn onto your stomach, Lover." Boris rasped.

Hank could see the man's impressive erection jutting towards him under those thin blue pajama bottoms as the man knelt on the bed. 

"Let me." He asked, hooking his thumbs into Boris' waistband to drag both the man's pants and the underwear below down his lover's thighs.

Hank got up onto his knees and moved closer until their cocks were nearly touching. He grabbed his own firmly in one hand and Boris' with the other, stroking them together. Boris groaned and grabbed the back of Hank's head, dragging their mouths back together. The kiss was deep and frenetic and needy while Boris' other hand stroked down his spine until those elegant fingers reached his ass.

"If you don't hurry up--" Hank threatened as he arched against the delicious, teasing fingers at his cleft.

"Then what?" Boris questioned in a lilting tone.

Hank growled low in his throat. He wanted-- no, he needed it hard and fast and if Boris wasn't up to giving that to him, he would just have to flip the script. Before Boris could figure out what he was up to Hank lunged forward out of the man's grip. Turning quickly he caught his partner by the hips and pushed the surprised man down onto the mattress.

"Then I'll switch positions with you." He said with a smirk.

Hank grabbed for the lubricant thankfully nearby in his bedside table's top drawer while his knee pushed apart the nobleman's thighs. His erection jumped as he looked at the alluring form that was his now: the rounded buttocks and muscular thighs and the broad shoulders. He wanted to bury himself in the man and confirm that it was real, that they were real.

"A man of action." Boris remarked breathlessly, as if he was trying to hide how being spread open with two slicked fingers already probing at his entrance affected him.

Hank hummed in agreement as he slowly pressed the first finger into the man's tight channel. Boris clenched around him and pushed back on his hand as the man sought out more. Hank took a steadying breath as he slowly pushed in a second finger and set a rocking rhythm-- in and out. In and out.

"I want you so much." He murmured roughly. "I want to be inside you and know I'm the person you want more than anything. I want to hear you moan my name like you did the first night we met. I want you to be mine for the rest of our lives."

"Yes." Boris hissed.

Hank withdrew his fingers, teasing his lover's sensitive rim on the way out. His erection felt impossibly hard and heavy. He was fantasizing about that first press of his cock's crown past that tight ring even as he spread way too much lube over himself and lined it up at Boris' entrance.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

Boris nodded. "Since the day we met, Hank." 

Suddenly he couldn't hold back another second. He surged forward, barely breathing as he watched his length slowly sink into the sweetest heat he'd ever known.

"Say my name." He ordered. All he could feel was the incredible grip of Boris' channel around his shaft and the softness of the man's skin sliding against his own.

"Hank." 

"Like the first time we met." The brunet corrected as he fully sheathed himself within the man below him.

"H-Hank." Boris breathed. 

Hank took a steading breath then pulled out until the crown of his cock was brushing the puckered rim of his lover and slowly thrust back in. The nobleman was hot and tight around him, the movement exquisite in its intensity.

"Good. So good. Say it again."

"H-Hank!" The man obliged, fingers clutching at the headboard.

Hank pistoned in and out of his lover, dragging in a ragged breath at the sight of the man thrusting his turgid erection against the sheets in time with the cock buried in him. Fire burned in his veins at the sight of their joined bodies and how his length disappeared into that incredible ass. He ran his hands over every inch of flesh he could, desperate to touch the man he'd wanted so much for so, so long.

"H-Hank." Boris tripped over his name again.

He could see the muscles cord in the man's neck and shoulders, feel the nobleman's flesh tremble beneath him. Boris was so close, about to come for his cock and the press of their slick bodies as they moved together band Hank thrust harder, shifting the angle just a bit--

Hank groaned as the man called out and began to buck wildly beneath him. Boris was so tight and so hot around his shaft, how had he lived forty-one years without this? He could feel his own climax rushing in like waves about to crash against the beach and it was all just too much. He cried out, thrusting harder and faster as he spilled himself into the man below him until there was nothing left but a feeling of rawness in his chest.

The sex was incredible. Their chemistry was unreal. Spent, he rested his head against Boris' broad shoulders while their breath returned to normal. He didn't know he could feel so in love. His entire body ached with it-- a sweetness and devotion so great it could never possibly run out or be extinguished. He was completely, utterly, entirely consumed and he never wanted it to end.

He released a shaky breath against the man's neck. "I love you."

"And I love you." Boris responded. "Since the first night we met. Always."

Hank gently moved to lay beside his lover knowing that everything would be okay. After six years they would work out whatever issues came their way. He loved Boris and Boris loved him and soon they were going to figure everything out.

"So what's the plan?" He finally asked, feeling more relaxed than he had in years.

"Keeping all of your family and HankMed safe will be difficult. The best way to facilitate it would be to keep our relationship between us and our family for the time being." Boris started. Long fingers were warm against Hank's skin as Boris lazily trailed them over his flank. "Do you think Jill Casey might be up to repaying a favor?"

Hank wanted to kiss the man's smirk and for the first time nothing was stopping him. He pressed his lips chastely against the corner of his lover's mouth and breathed in the scent of the man's skin. "I think so. What are you planning?"

"I do not know if we are being watched during the day but I suspect we are. Tomorrow morning I will return to Evan's room before dawn. When I come downstairs in the morning we will act as though nothing has changed: you ask me about my night, how I slept, et cetera. At noon we will say goodbye at the beach. We will act like we will never see one another again. Then you will go to Africa allegedly to pursue Ms Casey and throw off the oligarchs' trackers and from there I will set a rondez-vous so I may bring you home to the estate."

Hank nodded appreciatively. "If they all think I'm in Africa and not with you, I'll be free to occasionally visit everyone without suspicion."

"I made a mistake three years ago." Boris admitted. "I enjoyed our travels so much I tried to keep you to myself. I will not make that error again-- Your family is precious to you and I encourage you to visit them whenever you wish."

"Thank you for the apology." Hank responded, kissing the man again just because he could. "Neither one of us was at our best then. I shouldn't have left you when you needed me--But I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't watch you with your family while I missed mine. I was with your family but not in it and thinking I could never have you--"

"I am deeply sorry for my selfishness then. I wanted you close no matter the cost. I was so worried that you would see your HankMed family and refuse to leave that I didn't realize I was the one pushing you away. This time it will be different; you are my lover, my family, my future." Boris traced his fingers up Hank's spine as he paused. "Let us agree: no more mixed signals between us. We've wasted far too much time as it stands."

"We're finally on the same page and I don't ever want to lose that. No secrets." Hank agreed. "We're going to talk things through even when it's hard. We're a team."

Boris leaned in to kiss him again. 

Epilogue:

"No. No." Boris demurred, pulling Hank into his embrace. 

It felt good to be in his arms. Was running away to be with someone after only one night crazy? Probably. He couldn't seem to make himself care. He was drunk on Boris and he never wanted the feeling to end. 

"Come to me quickly, Hank. I have waited six years to begin my life with you." The nobleman murmured against his neck.

He held the man tighter against him. They had a plan, a good one, and all he needed to do was stick with it. Well, not all. He still needed to dissolve HankMed officially. He needed to say goodbye to Divya and Jeremiah and Paige. He needed to thank Evan. Where would he have ended up if his little brother hadn't dragged him out to the Hamptons that Memorial Day weekend? How could he possibly thank Evan enough for bringing him and Boris together?

"I love you." He whispered back as they released one another.

It was hard to let go even for just a few weeks. Soon they'd be together in paradise with nothing but adventures before them. Hank could wake up every morning to that handsome face beside him and fall asleep every night to the wonderful sound of Boris' rhythmic breath near his ear. 

Hank had spent his entire life waiting to settle down into some house in suburbia with all the trimmings. It was hard to remember why he'd wanted it so badly now that he couldn't be more excited to start a full and meaningful life together with the man he had never expected to love; a life filled with adventure and discovery and growth-- the things he had come to value in the last six years and would continue to be thankful for every day going forward.

Forever.

Uninterrupted.

**Author's Note:**

> In my head Boris purchases this island:
> 
> https://www.sothebysrealty.com/eng/sales/detail/180-l-1145-7p2wrw/blue-island-exuma-cays-ex
> 
> And builds a house that looks like 3 of these side by side (you can't confine Boris to 10,000sqft; it should be 30,000sqft at a minimum)  
> https://www.sothebysrealty.com/eng/sales/detail/180-l-581-n5trf3/la-belle-helene-other-soufriere-so
> 
> How's everyone doing? We've been quarantined for 5 months now where I am, hope you're all holding out okay. My 100 mile ultramarathon was made virtual--which is good news BECAUSE: 
> 
> I will be running with access to a phone charger using my house as an aid/support stop! Which means that starting from 6am EST September 5th I'm going to be running and writing! For the 25-30 consecutive hours I'm running I'm going to do a bunch of HCs, promptfills, and I'll have a new fic ready for you all when I cross the finish line.
> 
> It should be a lot of fun! Join me over at Tumblr (ChampionMuffin over there) and let's have a little party.


End file.
